summer

This is the first summer in a long time that I can remember really enjoying myself. Past summers have been fun and full of the same usual experiences; swimming, going on vacation, leisure time to read books or take a big nap, visiting with friends and family, impromptu neighborhood grill-outs and streetball etc. But this year seems different. I have tried to pinpont the reasons and can only come up with a couple. I think this is the first summer break for us after a more intense homeschooling year. School was hard work this year. Also, our kids are getting bigger and more independent. I think that is what has made the summer so enjoyable. We all needed  this break. Our whole family let out a big collective sigh as we began our summer with an early vacation to Florida.

We went to St. Augustine as my family has done for thirty some odd years. However, this was the first year that we went on our own without the whole family.  We really enjoyed it but we also missed having fun with all of our siblings and cousins.

We did a few things that we normally wouldn't do because it was too crazy to try and go places with 20 people. One of our favorites was an Eco-boat tour. A Coast guard captain takes just your family out onto the inland waterway to see dolphins, manatees, and other sea life. We all really enjoyed this and Anna reluctantly even drove the boat. (Can you imagine a kid turning down driving a boat?) I need some boys :)

My aunt and uncle who live in town were generous enough to have us over for dinner and to meet us out a few times. It was really nice getting to know them in a different way. My uncle Pete took us shark tooth hunting and we ended up finding about a dozen small shark teeth!

As always we had a blast swimming and playing at the beach. I love to hunt for shells and sea creatures with the girls. We saw quite a few interesting things this year. In particular was this turquoise blue jelly fish shell looking thing called a Blue Button.

After asking my uncle about all of the things we were finding he went and got us a book called Florida's Living Beaches, a Guide for the Curious Beachcomber. It was perfect! It literally had a picture and description of everything we saw. Nena would carry it with her and read it at dinner while we were waiting for our food. Later that same evening as we were walking down the dock to the beach we saw a turtle digging in the sand and we stopped to watch. I was saying how we would have to look it up in our new book when we got back to our condo and Nena says, " Mom, I am pretty sure that is a Gopher Tortoise because the book said they have a brown back shaped like that."  Wow! That made the book totally worth it just for that.


Here are some obligatory pool photos. I love the one of Anna because it looks like one of those carnival mirrors that warp your body.

The evening walks on the beach might be my favorite thing. The sun is setting and it isn't roasting your back. All of the sunbathers are in for the night. The beach is quiet and the sound of the waves crashing is loud.

The light is awesome. Rosy orange. Perfect for picture taking.

Ahh summer. I will miss you.